LAS VEGAS – Manny Pacquiao might be the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, but he achieved that status by fighting guys his own size.
However, Freddie Roach, Pacquiao’s trainer, seems to have an idea as to how Pacquiao will be able to overcome Oscar De La Hoya’s height and reach advantages.
De La Hoya and Pacquiao square off in the welterweight main event tonight at MGM Grand. Pacquiao has never fought at higher than lightweight, while De La Hoya has fought as high as middleweight. At 5-foot-10
“If a guy has a height advantage or a reach advantage, how easy is that to take away?” Roach said. “It’s very easy and Manny has that style to take that advantage away.
“He’s aggressive, he comes forward, and when you get close to a guy with long arms they need room – it crowds their punches. So I’m not worried about the size.”
But since De La Hoya has been in the ring with 160-pounders and Pacquiao has fought only once at 135, there is also the power issue that comes with that size differential – both in giving and receiving punches.
Pacquiao has never been known as a defensive specialist. He leaves himself open with his attacking approach, and it’s doubtful he could survive DeLaHoya’s left hook should it land on the chin.
“Oscar, his right hand is kind of OK, but his left hook is a power shot, something we have to look out for,” Roach said.
Pacquiao weighed in the 150-pound range during the bulk of his training camp, three pounds more than the welterweight limit. But Pacquiao, who Friday weighed in five pounds under the limit at 142, has been taking punches from 126- and 130-pounders the past five years.
Only in his last fight – in June – did he trade punches with a 135-pounder. And David Diaz, who was stopped in the ninth round by Pacquiao, is very slow.
Pacquiao and Roach believe speed will help them win this fight, but they should be concerned about the speed with which De La Hoya is going to be unleashing that left hook that dropped big brutes like Ike Quartey and Fernando Vargas.
Apparently, Pacquiao is undaunted.
“What we’re doing in training is focusing on defense and head movement and strategies,” Pacquiao said. “I understand he’s very strong, but I believe I can handle his power.”
De La Hoya, 35, is not only Pacquiao’s opponent, he is co-promoting this fight under his Golden Boy Promotions banner. He has spent a lot of time trying to convince reporters that this is a good fight for boxing, so one has to take what he says with a grain of salt.
In one breath during a conference call, DeLaHoya said this fight will be a disaster for him if he doesn’t knock out Pacquiao. In another he said he believes Pacquiao is man enough to handle the power of a bigger fighter.
“Big or small, what matters is if you have a chin, if you have the heart, if you have the desire to win,” said De La Hoya, who has won titles in six weight classes and Friday weighed in at 145 pounds. “There’s a lot of fighters who move up in weight and if they don’t have the chin, if they can’t take the punch, they’re going to get knocked out.
“With myself, I was able to move up because I can take the punch, because I have the heart, because I can fight. And that’s the same with Manny. I think the fact that he can take the hard punch, that he has that will to win, he’s going to come at me with everything. And it’s not going to be easy.”
Nacho Beristain, De La Hoya’s newest trainer, also believes Pacquiao will be a handful.
“I can tell you the advantages that many people are talking about are not precise, such as the weight, the size, the power punch,” Beristain said. “It’s going to come out that the fight is going to be even since Manny Pacquiao’s a very powerful fighter, and he’s a southpaw.”
Whereas Pacquiao (47-3-2, 35 KOs) is moving up from 135 pounds, De La Hoya is moving down from 154. But not only has De La Hoya been at or under the 147-pound limit for three weeks, he said he has not sacrificed any of his own power by coming down.
But there is an intangible that will be at work here as well – pride. De La Hoya (39-5, 30 KOs) hasn’t won many big fights the past few years. If he loses to the smaller Pacquiao, it would be crushing.
Pacquiao, as usual, has the weight of his beloved Philippines on his shoulders. He calls this “the biggest fight of my life.”
“I have pressure on my shoulders, but he has pressure on his shoulders, too,” said Pacquiao, 29. “For both of us, there is pressure. We took this fight because I believe that we have a big chance to win the fight, not only for the Philippines, but for the people of boxing. I want them to see the great fight of the small guy moving up to a higher weight division.”
Both fighters sported six-pack abdominals Friday. When they posed for pictures, De La Hoya was in his socks, but Pacquiao had put his sneakers back on. Many reporters figured it was a ploy to make Pacquiao not look so much shorter.
De La Hoya glad Beristain on his side Oscar De La Hoya said his first choice to train him for tonight’s fight against Manny Pacquiao was Floyd Mayweather Sr., who was back in De La Hoya’s corner for his May 3 fight against Steve Forbes after Freddie Roach trained De La Hoya for his May 2007 fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr.
But Mayweather Sr. was training RickyHatton for his fight last month against Paulie Malignaggi, so De La Hoya turned to Nacho Beristain of Mexico.
De La Hoya said he is glad it worked out that way.
“Nacho Beristain is a great trainer,” DeLa Hoya said. “He’s a trainer that makes you work extra hard. He doesn’t take no for an answer. He goes back to the basics.
“And it’s funny because he reminds me a little of `The Professor,’ who trained me for the (Julio Cesar) Chavez fight the first time. He has that similar style where he makes you work every single time, every single day. If you get it wrong, you have to do it again, do it again.”
“The Professor” is Jesus Rivero, one of many trainers De La Hoya has employed during his 16-year career.
Others have been Robert Alcazar, Gil Clancy, Emanuel Steward, Roach and Mayweather Sr.
Impressive list, indeed, but that doesn’t mean that this situation is all good.
Bob Arum, who promoted De La Hoya for the first two-thirds of his career and who now promotes Pacquiao, isn’t convinced De La Hoya has done the right thing by engaging in this game of musical trainers.
“I think it’s very difficult when you change trainers as frequently as Oscar has done,” Arum said. “I don’t think it helps. It’s the same way as a football team where the coach changes every yearor two and there’s a flux in the organization and they can’t get used to a particular system.
“It probably is less harmful for Oscar because at this stage, he’s a veteran fighter and nobody really is going to teach him anything. There’s always exceptions to the rule, but changing trainers is not a very good thing, particularly when you do it frequently.”
Etc. The “Sugar” Shane Mosley-Antonio Margarito welterweight title fight scheduled for Jan. 24 in Las Vegas has been moved to Staples Center. … James “Lights Out” Toney, who has won titles in three weight classes, next Saturday will square off with Tony Thompson at Morongo Casino Resort in Cabazon. The 40-year-old Toney, of Sherman Oaks, is 70-6-3. Thompson, 37, is from Washington D.C. He is 31-2 with 19 knockouts. Their fight will be televised on Versus. … Victor Ortiz of Oxnard will take on Jeffrey Resto of the Bronx in the undercard fight tonight at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. The left-handed Ortiz, 21, is 22-1-1 with 17 knockouts. Resto, 31, is 22-2 with 13 knockouts. … However, perhaps the most interesting undercard bout will take place between super bantamweight world champion Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico and Sergio Medina of Argentina. Lopez, a 25-year-old southpaw, has been making a lot of waves the past two years and five months, stopping all 11 of his opponents during that time. Heis 23-0 with 21 knockouts. Lopez will be attempting to make his second successful title defense. Medina, 26, is 33-1 with 18 knockouts. … Leading off the HBO pay-per-view broadcast will be super middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs (12-0, 11 KOs) going against Victor Lares (14-3, 3 KOs) in an eight-round bout. … Kendall Holt and Ricardo Torres next Saturday will fight each other for the third time. Their first two fights took place in Colombia and Las Vegas, respectively. Torres stopped Holt in the 11 th round in Colombia and Holt stopped Torres in the first round in Las Vegas. Showtime will televise on Saturday.
